Reading to Kickstart Our Success

Labor Day marks the beginning of the school year for many our families.  Ironically,  we are all students learning something or unlearning something.  

This is a good time to recalibrate from the leisure summer and fall into action working on our goals and finishing 2018 strong.  Reading can kickstart our success.  I started a list of the best books that I read and re-read because of valuable lessons they contain and reinforce.

Here are the top three:

Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich:  I found this treasure in my home when I was about 12  years old.  This book plants seeds.  This book sparked many Mastermind groups, treasure mapping sessions, and vision board parties.  It’s about prosperity and success.  For those who have read it before, re-read this classic.  For those who are vision boarding, writing life missions and plans, creating tribes and clans of likeminded individuals or doing other things to create a life of meaning ans sifnificance, this is the our handy reference guide. (I’m pulling off the shelf on Monday to start my upteenth read.)

Simon Sinek’s Start with Why:  Great leaders inspire us because they start with the reasons why people should support and mobilize behind their causes.  When we explain why we need people to work with us on projects and  share the contrast of the maintaining status quo versus the possibilities and impacts our project offers for them, we make compelling requests.  At the heart of every movement, there is a person with a vision who made a compelling request.  We follow that person because we understand  their “Why” and believe that we and the ones we love and care about will be positively impacted.  This book will helps good leadera become great leaders.

Greg McKeown’s Essentialism:  We live busy lives but we need to slow down and live meaningful lives.   We can do that if we do essential things instead of scattering our energy trying to do everything.  In addition to practicing the power of no to avoid non-essential time draining activities, learn to practice delegation and un-invest in bad choices and energy drains.  We cannot manage time but we can manage ourselves and use our time wisely.

Here’s a bonus:

Kerry Patterson’s Crucial Conversations:  We rarely seem to have the right words when our emotions are high and we are in a conversation with our bosses or our loves ones. Our Amygdala is triggered, and we freeze, run, or fight.  This read gives us the skills to talk and share what is important to us and invite the other person to do the same which will create opportunities for understanding.  Leaders have to handle all types of conversations and  when they are cruical conveesations leaders “Start With Heart”

So that’s the top four books,  and the investment is about $100 in total.  Let’s celebrate this Labor Day and start reading to kickstart our success!